Playing catch up

Ok so I have been way out of the loop for quite some time. I will give you a brief idea of our happenings then hopefully update with photos throughout the rest of the week.
OCTOBER
-was Michael's birth. She was a good baby minus the fact she was a night owl going to bed between 130-300am. I walked around like a zombie for the first two months as I would have to get up with Liza for prayers at 630am and make sure she was on the bus by 720am. But we survived!
November
- Liza's 8th birthday, visits from both sets of grandparents and Auntie Di and Uncle David, a baptism, baby blessing and the beginning of many Christmas parties
December
- we tried to put the house back together after having at one point 5 extra bodies sleep, eating, showering in it. Michael started sleeping thru the night. We put together several Christmas presents, pulled off Saint Nikolaus a few days late, got all of our Christmas shopping done by the 15th and were packed and ready for our Roecker family reunion in Disney World. We party hard, and had a blast! Got back on Christmas eve, paid little attention to the weather and got stuck behind a big rig that tipped over on the icy snow drifted highway. Spent all day Christmas eve and the early hours of Christmas day stuck on the highway in the van (luckily we had a full tank of gas, plenty of snacks and water, others were not so lucky). Finally Christmas day we swallowed our pride and called a church member in the area and asked for shelter. We rested for three hours and got word the roads were clear from a fellow traveler we had made friends with and exchanged numbers with. So we packed up and made it home. We enjoyed not having to leave the house or use the van for the next week. We spent News Eve together playing Uno, eating fondue (not doing that again too much cheese), and hanging out together.
January
- We started church with our new congregation due to boundary changes. It is way tiny but are interested to learn a little more about our Native American (Comanche tribe) fellow church goers. We have tripled the number of kids 12 and under! Hopefully we can learn to fit in and bring some new hope to the branch! We are also back to school and back to work for Jake. It has been hard after a week of complete laziness to start all over again, but nice to have a schedule again!

Hope the New Year is treating you all well!